Pew Internet Project Data Memo: Twitter and Status Updating

February 25, 2009

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has released a report which finds that, as of December 2008, 11 percent of American adults online said they had used Twitter or another "microblogging" service. The Pew Internet Project Data Memo: Twitter and Status Updating (6 pages, PDF) found that Twitter and similar services have been most avidly embraced by young adults, with about 20 percent of individuals between the ages of 18 and 34 reporting that they used such a service. Twitter users were also more likely to own items such as computers and cell phones and to engage with news at the same rates as other Internet users. At the same time, they tend to use technology in different ways, focusing on communication and the gathering and sharing of information.